Xo’nad Coalition
After the greatest of the xo’nad worlds in the subsector were conquered and its population massacred by the emergent Triarchy, the remaining xonad states banded together for mutual survival. It has fought a slowly losing war against the Triarchy. With the remaining core worlds largely protected from immediate destruction due to warp storms, the Triarchy is forced to go around the warpstorm and fight through the lesser states of the coalition. History Though the xonad were not able to conquer any imperial worlds during their attempted conquest of the Sector (039.M436), they were able to establish an unknown number of colonies. The Xonad-Border Wars for the xonad in Subsector Mortis proved a time of trial for the colonies. Many slaves were captured during this time which helped in turning the colonies into functioning provinces of the Xonad Empire. A corresponding number of colonies failed and died at this time whether due to imperial forces massacring the population, some disease the xonad physiology was poorly adapted to fight, a colony not being deemed worth it and abandoned or any of the myriad dangers that a colony near a xenocidal empire would find. The Long Storm which engulfed the entire Sector was a mixed blessing for the xonad planets in the subsector. True, it devastated all who lived in the Sector regardless of species and for the the xonad it was the time where the Xonad Empire fell into anarchy. The xonad planets in the subsector were not immune to this and also descended into warring petty states. This however allowed most of the xonad worlds in the subsector to be spared from the Crusade of Saint Belisarius as they were deemed a minor threat not worthy of the attention of the full might of the crusade. Instead the task was to be done after the more pressing threats were eliminated but as is in many cases in the imperium. There are always more threats. The Century of Woe which heralded the collapse of imperial control of the subsector was initially welcomed by the xonad. The greatest threat to their continued existence was but a distant memory and imperial border worlds were conquered by ambitious xonad rulers while slave raids were conducted into the more populous former imperial worlds now weakened by anarchy and chaos. This changed when the Murr united Neveron and began to establish an interstellar empire under the faith of Bahal’din’Murr. A religion that espoused a great many things but one thing that stood out for the xonad was the complete elimination of all xenos. Though both sides in theory were of equal strength, the lack of unity among the xonad petty states became apparent when the most influential of them chiefly Loxomod and their allies were left to their own devices due to a disagreement in policy leading to a fracture in the alliance, there were even rumors of xonad providing the Murr with information on how best to overcome the Loxomod defenses. Regardless, Loxomod and its allies fell to the new faith with their populations all but massacred and the survivors fleeing to the remaining xonad worlds to tell the tale. The remaining xonad worlds are located near the area of space where the Xonad Empire first came and the very first colonies were established. The most populous and influential planets of the xonad and Styrian Triarchy are currently separated by a warp storm which is a remnant of the Long Storm. This prevents the Styrian Triarchy from simply overwhelming the xonad core worlds and forcing them to go around the warp storm and fight through the border regions of the xonad coalition. Political Issues There is but one issue which all others are subordinated too in the minds of every sane xonad in the coalition. Survival. While the fighting is largely done in the border regions, estimates put the Styrian Triarchy within striking distance of the core worlds within several decades. If the Triarchy does not increase its military commitment when it senses its moment of victory is at hand. The second is slavery. A long held tradition of the xonad since they first walked the stars, The slave class was always considered the backbone to the economy and infrastructure of any xonad planet. Currently, there is a growing abolitionist movement among the xonad. Citing one of the reasons Loxomod fell was due to a large scale revolt among the human slaves. They wish to limit this potential danger by banning at the very least all human slaves what will happen to the newly freed slaves is currently up to debate. The chief obstacle to the movement apart from traditionalist who consider it part of xonad culture and the largest slave owners is the issue of how the xonad society is to function at all without slaves, although this is slowly being mitigated by the fact that the xonad automation technology is ever so slowly advancing to nullify the problem whether this will be before the Triarchy reaches the core worlds is another matter. The last most outstanding issue is calling for help in the void where the main xonad empire formerly was. While the empire is gone and its people are divided, there are still a number of large pretenders attempting unification. The fear is that if they do answer the pleas for help, any semblance of independence that the members of the coalition enjoys will be gone since any force that could match the Triarchy is more than enough to batter the coalition into submission. Still a vocal minority counter that it is a preferable fate to extermination. Military Due to the fractious nature of the coalition, there is currently no standard for all xonad military forces. Each state has their own independent forces armed with a vast array of weapons from solid slugs to energy and even more exotic ones. Their navy is the closest the coalition has to a semblance of uniformity if not unity. Many are armed with short range plasma batteries with ship design and pattern mimicking the ships of the fallen empire.